tales of work, unemployment and those activities in between

I think I just figured out a reason why I am weird (one of many)

Guys, I am so boring. Weekends are really quiet for me, especially since I moved to New York. I stay at home, watch a movie, run errands, sleep. (Right now, I work on the weekends, which exacerbates this issue of being boring, since I am tied to my computer during prime friendship hours.)

Until recently, weekend days used to be used as a detox from my week. I would come home on Friday exhausted, and often frustrated and sad, order some Thai food, and go to bed early.

But really, for about 7 years, I spent almost every Friday (and Saturday) night, in a theater. And then after the show, we would all go out. I passed my weekends with people with whom I was, technically, working. During the course of a show, you would become close with the cast and the other tech people. Then the show would end and you would start working on something new, and become close with those people. I was accustomed to seeing these folks five or six times a week in rehearsal, and then four days a week during the run of a show. But very, very few of these theater friends became “regular” friends, though thankfully, a few have stuck around.

Now that I don’t spend my time working on shows, I kind of don’t know how to organize my social life. For a while, I would just hang out with “regular” friends, or go home and inhale four episodes of The Wire, and when I was in school, I would have studying to do. Then came this period of self-imposed Friday night exile from other human beings. I remember one weekend locking myself in my room when my then-roommate was having guests over because I could not be around other people and be pleasant at the same time (after about an hour of deep breathing, I subsequently had a really fun dinner with all those people).

But, at the advanced age of 30, I think I need to learn how to socialize with people who I am not working with. I need to have regular friends that I am not required to be around for any other reason than that we are friends. Where are these friends?